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Overview
Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala: A city in the north of Guatemala, 1,300 m elevation, not much different from other cities in Central America. The people are courteous and kind; many of them (nearly 60%) are indigenous, descendants of the Mayans. Thousands of small shops, hoards of yellow school buses belching black exhaust, garbage scattered on the roads, lines of pickups packed with over 20 people in back, and multiple stands selling fruit, peanuts and much more - all this shapes the townscape of Cobán.
But looking a second time, one sees much more.
Many inhabitants, still many more than within the city, live in the outlying districts directly facing the city. They number tens of thousands, perhaps a hundred thousand; nobody knows exactly and perhaps many do not want to know, because the poverty and problems in these districts are staggering. People don’t have money to go to the doctor or pay for medicine; they have no money to send their children to school and sometimes not even enough to nourish themselves and their family. The level of violence is unbelievably high: extremely organized youth gangs, the so-called “Maras", threaten personal safety. Within families domestic violence is a daily occurrence. Living conditions you don’t find with us in the homeland.
Education
In the poorest areas covered by our project, in particular "Esfuerzo 1", "Esfuerzo 2" and "Nueva Esperanza", approximately 16,000 people live. Of these, about 80%, or more than 12,000 people, are under 18 years old. Currently, four public schools exist in these areas with capacities that are gravely insufficient to cover existing educational needs. The day before registration for the new school year begins, long lines of parents form, hoping to secure one of these precious places for their child the following morning. During the decades-long civil war that was accompanied by rampant corruption, the quality of public education in Guatemala sank to the lowest level in all of Central America. Qualified instructors and money for teaching materials were unavailable and the last education reform had taken place more than 30 years ago. If one asks locals about the education system in Guatemala, the word which pops up again and again is "desastre".
Health
In Guatemala, each citizen has the right to free health care. That sounds good at first, but the catch is that all medications must be paid for by the patient. Even in the hospitals, the most necessary supplies are missing, like dressing material, painkillers, and sterile syringes - in an emergency the patient must buy them from the closest pharmacy. In the project’s geographic area, there are only two trained physicians (for almost 16,000 people). Completely apart from that, most people are unable to afford the medications they need. For some, this and the abysmal hygienic conditions become a deadly mixture.
A man came to the project a few days ago to ask the Padre for help with the funeral of his deceased wife. She had cut her foot at work picking through trash in the city garbage dump with a machete. She couldn’t go to a doctor due to costs and therefore the wound was not properly treated. She got blood poisoning and died some days later. She left behind her husband and three children.
About the “Basurero“
"Basurero" is the Spanish word for garbage pail or garbage dump and also the name of an important part of this project. About 100 people live and work at the city garbage dump outside of Cobán; about 70 of them are children. Specifically, they live directly behind the garbage dump, only meters from it. They search from dawn till dusk in the mountain of garbage, through what others have thrown away, hoping for something valuable, which can be sold, for plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and scrap metal and sometimes simply for something edible. On a good day, they earn about 2€, perhaps 2.50€, but mostly it’s less. These living conditions, under which humans must exist, are indescribable, especially so, the immense health risk that they are exposed to every day. The worst part is the children’s situation – they must help their parents at young age, never learn to read and write, and never get an education. Wandering around and sorting through garbage is the only occupation which allows them to survive.
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Current Situation 
